I have now spent about a month and a half in Germany, and I believe I can safely say that, so far, it has been one of the most enjoyable experiences of my life. My delay in starting to write this blog has partially been due to how much I have been experiencing here and my immersion into the culture. Over my next few posts I will attempt to recap what I have done so far, because so far it has been quite a good amount!
Our first week here was dedicated to orientation in the city of Dresden as well as a few administrative details, but it also happened to coincide with the Dresden Stadtfest, basically a celebration of the city of Dresden, the capital of the province of Saxony. Not at all a bad way to kick off the semester with a city-wide fair complete with carnival rides, food stands (from which I purchased the first of many Bratwursts), free philharmonic and 80’s music concerts, not to mention virtually the entire 500,000 plus population of Dresden. Splendid views of the city and a very pleasant atmosphere definitely helped to calm my nerves in this completely new environment. A finale of fireworks along the Elbe river completed the first week, and the almost perfectly timed downpour of rain immediately after the show did little to dampen our spirits.
The second week was also dedicated to a few administrative duties, but we also began our intensive German course, meeting three days a week for between three and four hours. While certainly a very enjoyable class, a summer of little to no exposure to the language left many of my language skills unfortunately wanting. However, a few days of consistent speaking definitely helps scrub away the rust. Fortunately we still had time to keep exploring the city itself, which has a rich history and many stunning buildings.
For example, we visited the Zwinger, an old fortress that was part of the wall surrounding Dresden, which turned into a palace for the Dresden court and which now holds an art collection (Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister) as well as the Dresden porcelain collection (Porzellansammlung). A group of us also took the liberty to visit the Großer Garten, a large park with a beautiful dominating the center, and where we enjoyed a nice picnic under a gentle German summer sun.
At the end of the second week we journeyed to Meißen, a smaller town in Saxony but which nonetheless boasts the oldest castle in Germany (Albrechtsburg) and a vast beautiful collection of porcelain, as it was in Meißen that alchemists in Europe finally found the formula to create the coveted material, which until then was only imported from east of Europe. I must say, I was excited for the castle but not for the porcelain collection, as my only experience with porcelain at that my point in my life was with toilets or fancy dinnerware. However, after viewing the collection, I was blown away by both the process of producing porcelain as well as the intricate and ornate designs that had been crafted over the years almost entirely by hand.
My first two weeks in Germany were ones of nerves but also of first-time experiences and a pleasant introduction into the culture that I am now calling home (for a couple more months). Germany overall is clean and progressive – many people ride bikes and many cities enjoy a majority of green space making up their layouts, Dresden included. Germans can be reserved in public, but once introduced they are a very friendly and interesting people.
